[!]THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS AND IS A VERY LONG READ, A SPOILER-FREE TLDR IS PROVIDED NEAR THE END[!]
>"Just for now, just for now", stacking excuses on excuses,
ugly fruit that's ashamed to live after surviving.
You've lost your hope in the distance of the stars.
Thou shalt not die.
From the 99th Class, Nana Daiba.
If it is fate that you must ripen and fall,
then now, I'll offer you a beautiful end.”
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. And with that knowledge in our heads, we will use this opportunity to take a train, a train that leads us to Revue Starlight: The Movie, one of the best movies ever created. I already talked about its predecessor before but just to recap: the Revstar TV show is a criminally misunderstood show that, while confusing, indirectly handles mystery and human determination well with its stellar directing and organic cast of characters. While the show is fantastic and is arguably better than how others would view it, this damn movie takes everything up to a whole new level. This sequel is the pinnacle of surreal artistry that pretty much unleashes the series’ full potential and ends on a high note. It’s no wonder why the TV show was intentionally written to be a stepping stone. This whole thing has to be one of the greatest twists I’ve ever seen in fiction.
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The show's story is about two girls named ‘Karen’ and ‘Hikari’ who watched a stage performance of 9 girls in a group called “Starlight” and both were amazed by each of the girls’ performances. As time passed, the two girls were in high school and made friends with 7 other girls. While the 9 girls do their standard school activities, Karen discovers a secret room which is a stage for the Starlight and the other girls are part of it. And with that, the 9 girls are dancing and singing in a battle of who will take the victory. Mind you, that is when the girls were still studying and practicing. This movie’s plot is when they’re entering the actual play as well as going in for a very bizarre reveal of what their grand assessment will be, albeit indirectly. It’s time the girls are prepared for their finale to show their full best. But that will also be paired with some sort of black magic. The movie is now creating and directing the results of both the character arcs and the pure mystery of the Starlight. Essentially, it’s now revealing both how much the girls have come with their talents and dedication thus far and the shocking truth of the stage in general.
The movie’s story has done nothing but be amazing from left to right. As I mentioned, it truly takes what the TV show has and places it in a position that changes everything. How everything is written and built from the get-go is already excellent but the biggest strengths in my opinion are both its directing and its scriptwriting. Those two aspects really elevate the whole movie for me. It starts with this buildup where after Hikari wins against Karen, our main cast becomes a little more different from what we see in the TV show. The girls are now going to visit the theatrical troupe, all while Hikari returns to London. This isn’t too groundbreaking per se but it’s a really great change of pace where we get more insights as to what they’re going to do next. The movie truly shows what the characters do with their life choices and even outside the stage plays, they show how they’re setting their things up here, differentiating from how they do in auditions. That said, this buildup is really needed but it’s time we move to the gauntlet stages of beautiful and poetic chaos.
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First entering Annihilation Revue! The first actual performance and a one-man endurance test on Nana. This fight starts with the girls minus Karen and Hikari casually hanging around in a train while waiting to arrive at the troupe. But while they’re at it, a circle with the Giraffe’s icon in it rolls in and turns the train into a bloody battlefield. By extension, it also reveals Nana’s true potential, not just in strength but also in her colors. Nana proceeds to beat the shit out of her friends in conjunction with her song and poetry. This may be the first revue but it’s also arguably one of, if not, the best ones in the movie. Part of why this is just a massive standout is how it handles Nana’s monologues and her interactions with her friends. She may be a kind soul but you really can’t forget that she also has her dark side. Even without this movie existing, she’s always willing to be dedicated to building up and spreading her philosophies as well as conflicting with her friends, especially when she’s involved in stage plays. I’ll say this again, Nana IS the honorary shadow figure in animanga; acting like an angel she is while also developing her demon tendencies.
But yeah, Nana is especially poetic and scary here. I’m not joking when I say she unleashed her full wickedness. This truly represents Nana very well because not only of her twisted coin flip as mentioned earlier but also of her relationship with Starlight as a whole. Even though she ironically hates them, she joined the stages because they taught her how to be a star so valuably. This applies to all the other characters but Nana is so obsessed with her career to the extent that she’s WILLING to put her friends out of commission so she can be on top. Despite how selfish she can be, she’s also very wise and truthful. Even if you’re very strong in every category, studying what being in Starlight means will still overwhelm you, which is why she’s the most dedicated participant ever. She indirectly tells the girls this with both her singing and her menacing, stoic demeanor. This entire scenario regarding Nana as a villain is brilliant, not only in the performance but also in how the movie starts to shift heavily with those things. After the intense one-man fight, Nana WON, leaving her friends behind with nothing but blood and gore which, by the way, are faked with tomatoes.
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Speaking of, the fight scenes! The choreography in Revstar, even before this movie, stomps on the ground way harder than a lightning rod. The fights are so impactful that calling them miscellaneous is a crime at this rate. The fights are amazing because not only do they ooze a lot of tension but they’re very cathartic and tie well with the characters’ motivations and personalities. They’re stage battles where you have certain characters depending on a scenario and they have a perfect balance between over-the-top action and heavy but profound dialogue. Of course, you can’t forget about the stage songs. These lyrical songs are still, to this day, the best kinds in the whole industry. They’re not just very catchy and addicting to listen to. Similarly, they enhance the substance of the scriptwriting a lot further. Each of the songs fit perfectly with each Revue perfectly while also tackling the directing and character writing extremely well.
Before we move on to the next Revues, let’s tackle some other things too. The backstories of Karen and Hikari are well-explored. It shows (and proves) that even though they may have a competitive relationship with each other at times, they still recognize themselves as great friends who are willing to work hard to achieve their ambitious goals, whether they work with each other or not. Even ignoring the whole Starlight situation, they live with their own personal lives and they hang out with each other with other things they would be interested in and/or personal things they would deal with, further extending their developments and dynamics. The Giraffe is weird, especially as the main antagonist, but he’s very well-written. He designed the stages not to impress viewers but rather, to show the girls both the methods of developing determination and exploring the illusions that have certain yet very strong connections within themselves. He uses that advantage to spiral in the 9 girls about their special feats while also trapping them in a paradox until they break their limits. Not much to say here. He’s a great villain overall.
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Alright, let’s move to Resentment Revue. This Revue is where Kaoruko and Futaba probably (and arguably) have the most diehard relationship with one another in this film. This fight has a really interesting setting where it contains temple decorations and goddamn dekotora trucks. Well, this is the underground theater we’re talking about here. The fight is this: Futaba convinces Kaoruko that aiming for the top isn’t necessarily worth it and just be casual friends in a casual life but Kaoruko wants to keep going. The more they argue, the harder they go with their fighting skills (that applies to every other Revue, though). Afterwards, Kaoruko realizes that limit so she loses and accepts that both of them are competitive stuff like Starlight in general. This is not only well-directed but also very relatable because even though humans like us are hard-working, not everyone is equal and in hindsight, there are limits we just give up on. Even though these two characters are brats when they fight, they make very strong points as to whether one of them wants to keep going or not. They realized, nah. Casual life is more fun than the stages for them and with that, Futaba won and both of them decided that they’ll stick with what’s more comfortable for them. That said, Futaba is still the weakest of the 9 girls when it comes to characterization, development, and catharsis but she’s still excellent and this fight proves that.
Next up, Co-Star Revue. Hikari is chilling in London but she’s reminded by the fact that she has yet to meet up with Karen in Starlight. So she hops on a ride and surprise surprise, Mahiru blocks the road. Remember the one fight where Mahiru fights Karen all while she uses cute-looking but otherwise creepy puppets? Well, why not use the advantage on Hikari too? Mahiru is creepy. Heck, even creepier than the Giraffe. She brings in the catchiest song out there while haunting the heck out of Hikari. But you wanna know why she does this? It’s because she wants to have fun. She seeks attention for the sake of dancing together in Starlight. Mahiru is an excellent character. Even though she’s a weirdo, she still sees a lot of value in her friends. Even though Hikari lost, Mahiru still convinces her to the point of giving her another chance. Hikari admires her too. I always think Hikari’s dynamics with Mahiru are more interesting than her dynamics with Karen (we’ll get to that later) with all the silly hassle but also really formidable conflicts.
Moving on, Hunting Revue. This is arguably the best one right after Annihilation Revue. First dressed as military soldiers, this is where Nana meets her biggest conflict besides Karen and Hikari, Junna. Nana is very confident with how very serious she is with fighting and because of her demeanor, she wins… or did she? Junna had a rough time against Nana but she unleashed so much adrenaline that she gained the same confidence. Even if Nana is very wise and is really on the right with her ideals, her yin outweighs her yang it sorta blinds her, and this leads her to her downfall. Junna won because not only did she gain more precision (shitty pun intended) but she convinced Nana to snap out of it. Kaoruko vs Futaba may be the most diehard fight and while this is a runner-up, this is the most personal because of the chemistry. Nana does see value in her friends but she’s still selfish enough to protect her career. Junna values Nana but she also wants her to stick to her angel side more. This very intense fight convinced Nana to give up. She may have done villainous stuff but she’s still consistently empathetic to us because she worked hard enough to be competitive and even then, she still cares about her friends. Can’t forget about Junna either. She’s also well-developed.
For our next fight, we have Soul Revue. Knowing from Claudine and Maya, we don’t expect less. However, from a controversial viewpoint, this is probably the weakest Revue out there even though those two characters are still among the best in the entire series. That doesn’t mean it’s half-bad. It still has top-notch scriptwriting, directing, and character writing. Claudine and Maya start off by spitting out Shakespearean lines in a very fancy setting, they fight, and Maya seems like she won but Claudine pulls a prank. They then enter a very intense battle. If Kaoruko and Futaba have the most diehard relationship and Nana and Junna have the most personal relationship, Claudine and Maya have the most competitive relationship. Those two have a very strong bromance with each other. Their battle is one of the most spectacular things ever and they're paried with their really awesome dynamics. Everything about the fight is absolutely amazing but I just think the other Revues provide a significantly more impact in comparison. By the way, Claudine won. Period
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And finally, our endgame Revue is The Last Line. This is the final gauntlet where Karen and Hikari meet each other and where they meet their destiny. The fights have been building up very well to this epic final battle. Not only does it perfectly show the symbolism and willpower of determination but it also perfectly shows the amazing duo between Karen and Hikari. As mentioned, their chemistry with one another is bittersweet and motivational but, at the same time, competitive, and this is how they prove themselves. Their fight is amazing with their combination of spectacle, tension, poetry, and personal impacts. Despite this, it still doesn’t have much of an upper hand as the other fights do. Again, this is an amazing Revue but the others are a little better.
However, the reason why this succeeded isn’t necessarily the whole fight. It’s brilliant, sure, but the reason for that is because of the ending. This is, without question, the best ending in the industry. Karen and Hikari fought each other very intensely and it’s so epic that it magically killed the Giraffe out of amazement. Hikari fakely stabs Karen and uses the Tokyo Tower as a rocket to land on the end goal of reaching position zero. Hikari didn’t win because of a competition. She wins so as to virtually bring herself and Karen (and maybe even the 7 other girls) to the stars. Why? Because the stages they dance on aren’t really stages. They’re illusions that bring some of the most valuable lessons about dancing and singing. They’re more than what they are. This ending perfectly calculates how much they have gone through and developed thus far. Best of all, this is just the beginning, the beginning of reaching the heavens. This Revue may not be on the same level as the others with everything else but thank god, it more than makes up for it with such a formidable finale.
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TLDR or in case my words are too much:
STORY - 100% (Very well-written story packed with godlike direction, dialogue, and choreography.)
CHARACTER - 100% (Every single character is armed with an outstanding and well-founded presence, personality, and backdrop as well as organic character development and superb catharsis. Not only well-written but also memorable and some who we truly resonate with.)
ART - 100% (A mixture of incredible Sakuga and still the best batch of character designs in any anime.)
SOUND - 100% (The music, the sound design, and the Japanese voice acting, are unlike any other.)
And if you’re asking me how I rank the Revues, it would look like this:
[1] Hunting Revue (1 and 2 can be interchangeable)
[2] Annihilation Revue (1 and 2 can be interchangeable)
[3] Resentment Revue
[4] Co-Star Revue
[5] The Last Line
[6] Soul Revue
All of them are amazing in their own right.
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>With the light reborn in my heart,
my new flesh and blood seek life.
To sing, dance, and battle.
If those are our wild instincts, then...
From the 99th Class, Hikari Kagura.
Fate changes. So does the stage.
And that is it. Finally. I don’t think this review will do any more justice. But I want to repeat this once more, Revue Starlight is just kino. It manages to take everything it has on the table and nail everything well from left to right. It’s pretty much a jack-of-all-trades and master-of-all, a combination you don’t see much in any medium. If the 9 girls are filled with massive passion then so is this entire series, especially this movie. There’s not much to say in this closing honestly. Thank you so much for reading, and to Revue Starlight, thank you so much for breaking the impossible. 
